1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices for use with a safe to prevent the safe from being pried or otherwise uprooted from its anchorings.
2. Background Art
A safe is an enclosure used to keep articles for safe-keeping. Thieves have been know to steal the articles stored within safes. In some case, rather than breaking the safe's lock, thieves have been know to steal the safe by prying the safe from its anchorings. The entire safe is then stolen once it is uprooted from its anchorings.
One such prying example relates to inserting a prying element between a door hinge and the surface to which the safe is secured, typically the floor. Once so positioned, the prying element can be wedged and worked against the door hinge and the floor to uproot the safe from its anchorings.
The prying element can be any device which is capable of applying sufficient force between the hinge and the floor to uproot the safe. A hydraulic jack is one such device. The jack applies force by expanding itself jack between the door hinge and the floor. As the hinges are typically very strong, the upwardly expanding jack causes the hinge to raise the safe up from the floor such that the anchorings are pulled out of the floor.
There are a number of safes in use which may be susceptible to being uprooted from their anchorings and stolen in this or a similar manner. Thus, there exists a need for an anti-prying device which can prevent the uprooting of safes. Because the safes in use today are typically already anchored in position, it is desirable to provide an anti-prying device which can be retrofitted as an after-market item without incurring the additional expense of re-anchoring the safe.
In addition, as many of the currently used safes are scheduled for replacement with new safes which may be similarly susceptible to being uprooted from the anchorings, it is also desirable to provide an anti-prying device which can be used with replacement safes without requiring additional removal or modification.
Thus, it is desirable to provide an after-market anti-prying device that allows for the replacement of existing safes without requiring that the anti-prying device be removed or modified and that also prevents uprooting and stealing of the safe by jacking up or otherwise prying up the safe.